


A Howl in the Night

by SonjaJade



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-14
Updated: 2012-06-14
Packaged: 2017-11-07 18:26:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/434057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SonjaJade/pseuds/SonjaJade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's InuYasha's first night after returning from the now broken well. He is scared and alone and so crushingly sad that he lets loose a howl that goes unnoticed by no one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Howl in the Night

***I don't own InuYasha or the characters within***

* * *

This was the last place that held her scent, and he intended to keep the smell inside him for as long as it held out. He touched the wooden lip and imagined he could feel the warmth from her last touch upon the rough plank… He sniffled in the dark, powerless against the tears that hadn't stopped coming since after the others had finally let him be. He closed his eyes as he was momentarily wracked with such great sorrow that it hurt to even breathe. His whimpers and choking sobs were quiet, but they didn't go unnoticed.

Sesshomaru was patrolling the area, ensuring his Rin and her caretaker would not be harmed in the night by any leftovers from Naraku that might have taken refuge in the woodlands around the village. He caught the scent of his brother's tears, stopped and looked in the direction of the well, and thought briefly about checking on him. The taiyokai took a deep breath and left the boy to his pain, but he knew that had it been Rin that had disappeared that there wouldn't be a tree left in these woods. Sesshomaru would rip the earth itself in half trying to get her back, and he suspected that this was what InuYasha wanted to do, but rather than giving into his rage, as his woman loathed for him to do, he was arrested by his great sadness.

"You have done the world a great deed InuYasha," he said quietly as he resumed his silent steps, "I doubt the gods will allow you to suffer for long."

On a hillside a few miles away, Koga sat with his sleeping pack contemplating if there was anything he could have done to save Kagome. She had finally made it clear to him that InuYasha was the one she wanted, and he'd let he go with him, but even now his heart still belonged to her. He was comforted by the fact that Miroku had told him that she was safe in the arms of her family, that InuYasha personally saw her alive and healthy and happy before he was sucked back to the Sengoku period. But just as InuYasha mourned her loss to this world, so did Koga.

He watched the hanyou sink to his knees and sniff the ground all around the well, pick up her scent and then rub his neck into what he could find of it, trying in vain to find a way to keep her with him in some way. He had to turn away when the half breed began to lick the lip of the well, stopping to pull splinters out every now and then as he tried to soak even the taste of her soft skin into his memory. After a few moments, he opened his eyes to find InuYasha gone. Koga assumed that maybe the well opened up for him and he ran through the other side to get to the girl they both loved. He felt a bittersweet kind of relief at that thought and turned away from the sight of the well, lying down facing the dwindling fire to get some sleep.

InuYasha sat in the bottom of the no-longer-working well, his hands ghosting softly over the dirt there, Kagome's smell strongest in here than anywhere else. His heart broke and he was overcome by his Inu instincts. Like a pup that'd lost its master, he'd begun to whine. The sound of his whines echoing back to him made him angry that he sounded so weak. He pounded his fist into the ground so hard that the sides of the well rattled. InuYasha struck the dirt again, hoping that maybe on the other side, where his raven haired woman lived, that she could hear him. Over and over he stamped his fist into the earth until finally his knuckles began to bleed on the harp rocks just under the soft earth's surface. He was crying so hard now that he couldn't see.

Then the world stopped turning for a single moment.

InuYasha threw back his head, tears flowing down his dirty face, chest shaking from utter misery and loss as he sobbed his guts out, and in a deep breath he let loose with a howl that was deafening within the confines of the well; a howl so loud and full of anguish that was heard for miles around.

Sesshomaru stopped and turned to face the direction of the pained sound, shocked to hear something so… Inu coming from his hanyou brother. Against his will, he felt the heart wrenching sorrow in that sound, a sound that nearly brought him to his knees. The demon lord hadn't heard such a sound since his war dog father howled his last breath. Though the two of them had never seen eye to eye on anything, and had even tried to kill each other, Sesshomaru certainly did not wish this kind of pain on the boy. InuYasha had endured so much during his young life, and this kind of sound coming from him could only signal his death was imminent. He put his hand on Tenseiga and whispered, "Father, if you can hear me, or hear him… Please don't let him lose that ningen onna forever. Don't let him die like this."

Rin jerked awake at the sound of such hopeless misery from InuYasha. She rose and wandered to Kaede's door and pulled the mat back. She gazed out into the moonlit night, saw Sango and Miroku looking out their door as well, could make out that Sango's eyes were shimmering with unshed tears, and then felt tears of her own coming to her eyes. Kaede came up behind her and placed a withered hand on her small shoulder. "It's so sad, Kaede-sama," she whispered.

Kaede nodded. "Yes, child. InuYasha has endured much misery at Naraku's hands."

"Do you think Kagome-sama will ever return?" she asked as InuYasha let go with another loud and clear howl of despair.

"I don't know little one. We can pray that she does, but as always, the gods will do as they see fit in the end. Come now, I'll brew us a nice tea." She nodded to the monk and his wife across the way and then steered the child back into the house. Sango turned and buried her face into her husband's shoulder, crying as he wrapped his arms around her and held her for a moment as they listened to their friend cry out for his love.

Koga didn't move from his spot as he heard the howl come bursting up from the well. He merely listened as InuYasha cried out with all the passion and fear and anger and sadness he had, hoping to reach the gods themselves with his lonely and desperate baying. Ginta and Hakkaku looked at each other and the other wolves when Koga made no motion to do anything. Instead they watched helplessly as tears rolled from Koga's blue eyes. His face was calm as the tears rolled slowly down, gleaming tracks only visible in the firelight. Koga had no right to speak up for Kagome, not after she made it clear who her choice was, but Koga knew well what InuYasha was feeling. He rolled to his other side, his back now to the fire, grunting "You guys should try to get some sleep. I'm sure he'll quit soon." The rest of the pack looked at each other and settled themselves once more, but it was long hours before anyone found sleep again.

InuYasha howled until he was hoarse. His howls began to quiet and shorten themselves, and before long he was reduced to sobbing once more into the tear soaked ground at the bottom of the Bone Eater's well. His hands lay twitching in front of him, electrified with the energy of the howling, and he brought a muddy hand to his face and stared at the tips of his own claws. Slowly, he brought his hand up to his neck, felt of the kotodama there and cried a little at how he would give anything just hear Kagome yell "Sit!" at him… because it would mean she was here, and he would gladly eat dirt just to know she was by his side.

He smoothed his hand up further on his throat, felt his life's blood pulsing in the arteries on either side… He felt his fingertips itching to shred the veins there, wanting to spill his worthless half breed blood in the last place he'd seen the woman he loved so much. His breath hitched at the thought of finally being free of all the pain and suffering… to be free of anyone calling him names or trying to kill him simply because of what he was. He thought of being reunited with his mother, to find and meet and know his father… to see Kikyo again, and without the painful and unresolved past between them.

InuYasha was ready to do it when suddenly there was another in the well. Sesshomaru grabbed the boy by his fire rat and jerked his brother's trembling hand from his throat. "That's enough."

InuYasha didn't say anything, didn't even care that it was his stupid pure-bred half brother that had jerked him to his senses. When Sesshomaru tossed him down into the corner of the well, he crumpled in on himself and made no move to get up and fight, only gave in to more tears.

"Stop your crying. Those tears only serve to make you weaker."

InuYasha spoke in Inu, a soft growl that said, 'Shut up.'

"Tears won't bring her back, InuYasha."

"I was getting ready to do you a favor… I was gonna leave this world, leave you to take it over or whatever. I'm done. I'm nothing without her." He looked up at his brother. "Everything I've fought for, everything I've done to make this world a better place… Everything I've done has been for nothing."

Sesshomaru's stony eyes softened a fracture. "It wasn't for nothing."

"It was!" he shouted back forcefully. "I have lost _everything_! What good is Naraku's death if she's gone!" He jerked Tetsusaiga, sheath and all, and tossed it at Sesshomaru's feet. "Take the stupid fuckin' sword. I don't fuckin' want it anymore."

"InuYasha, you need your sword to keep from being lost to your demon. I can't-"

"Then leave it lay. And get the hell outta here. I don't wanna look at you."

Sesshomaru gave a grunt. "I do not wish to look at you either. But know this: I will never be far from this place, not while Rin is here, and I will not let you kill yourself, do you understand?"

The boy buried his face in his hands and began to laugh. "All these years you been tryin' to kill me, now all the sudden you're gonna keep me from killin' myself. That's the funniest thing I've heard in a long time." He seemed to snuggle into the corner of the well further, as if to become one with the very wood itself. "Do yourself a favor and don't concern yourself with my half-breed ass, 'kay?"

Sesshomaru said nothing, simply vaulted out of the well and then stood looking back down into it. "If you do manage to kill yourself I will raise you. And then you will be patient and wait for her like you should be doing now. The gods do what they do for a reason, and I'm sure they won't keep you separated for long. You must find patience."

"Fuck patience. I've been patient long enough," he snarled as he flipped his middle finger up in Sesshomaru's direction, a gesture he knew would be lost on the taiyokai.

"Do as you wish then, InuYasha. But I won't let the miko come back and find you dead. That's a promise." Sesshomaru then took to the air, suddenly missing his own little human and wanting to be sure she was alright.

InuYasha fell into an exhausted sleep, curled up in the corner of the well, surrounded by his Kagome's scent. He dreamed of her, and she told him in no uncertain terms that she was trying as hard as she could to get back to him, and to not give up hope. She told him to learn how to pray with Miroku, learn how to pray with Kaede, to make offerings and try to continue to do good in an effort to appease the gods.

"Kagome, do you think we'll ever be able to be together again?" he asked as he held her dream form tightly to him.

"Do you love me?" she asked as her arms came around his back.

"More than my own life."

"Then as long as you love me as much as you say, and do well to continue being the good hearted person I know you to be, I'm sure we will be together again." She leaned away from him and gazed into his eyes. "I love you, InuYasha."

"When you come back… Will you… will you come live with me?" He felt so strange asking her something like this. They'd never discussed anything like it before when they were together; he hoped he wasn't jumping the gun, even though this was the dreamscape, he didn't want to scare her away from him.

"Of course," she whispered as she leaned her head back and kissed his lips. InuYasha groaned against her mouth, parting her open and sweeping his tongue inside to meet hers. They eagerly tasted each other, and then broke for air. "Please, don't give up hope. I will come as soon as I can." She stepped back as she began to fade into the surrounding darkness.

"Don't go, Kagome!" he yelled.

"I will visit you again, but for now you must rest." Her voice was light as it seemed to sing in the blackness that was eliminating everything from his vision. "Remember, make an offering tomorrow morning, I will too." There was a feeling of loss again, but it was overshadowed but a sudden and strong feeling of being connected with Kagome on a spiritual level, and he found I comforting to be tied to her in such a special way. He calmed and slept the rest of the night peacefully.

When he woke in the morning, he felt refreshed and calm inside. He wasn't consumed by his sorrow as he had been the night before, and he was surprised when his stomach gave up a healthy rumble after catching the scent of vegetables on the boil. He jumped out of the well and made a beeline to the shrine, making an offering to the gods before doing anything else.

Sesshomaru watched this from the trees and nodded to himself. Perhaps his father had heard his eldest son's pleas for help for the boy, perhaps he heard his youngest son's howls of pain, or perhaps both. Satisfied that InuYasha didn't seem hell bent on self-destruction, Sesshomaru continued his patrol of the forest.

He popped in the doorway at Kaede's, only to find Sango and Rin rushing towards him with arms extended to give out hugs of comfort. He accepted them with an uncertain chuckle, trying as always to play off his anguish as a temporary lapse of judgment. Miroku asked him quietly if everything was really okay, and InuYasha answered him with a quick 'Yeah', and then asked if he could show him how to pray the Buddhist way sometime. With a grin and a nod it was settled.

The days rolled past, weeks turned into months, seasons flew by into years… InuYasha prayed daily in both ways, helped the monk with his work and otherwise simply waited for the day when his woman would come home to him. He spoke to his brother occasionally, Sesshomaru simply wanting to be sure that InuYasha had moved past the suicidal state he'd been in the night he howled. He never saw or heard from Koga ever again, the wolf finally having taken Ayame and moved on with their combined packs.

InuYasha watched the sunset one night and could swear he felt Kagome's presence right by his side. As it was, she watching the sunset too, almost in the same exact spot as he was. Their spiritual connection was so strong now, thanks to the dreams they shared between them.

"I'm still waiting, Kagome," he said aloud to himself, grinning. "I got all the time in the world and I'll be here when you get here, I promise." It was almost the three year anniversary of Naraku's death. Those three years had gone by fairly smoothly, and though he still missed her like crazy, he was comforted that he knew she was alive and okay, and that she was trying like hell to get back to his side. He wondered if he was going to have to wait another three years, and that's when he saw the first star of the night pop out of the dusky sky. In a tradition that Kagome had told him of, he made a wish that she would come soon, and then rose and went back to Kaede's for the night.

The star glimmered, hearing InuYasha's wish, and then for the rest of the night glowed an eerie pinkish-purple color, the same color as Kagome's purifying aura. That morning when InuYasha woke up and went down to Miroku and Sango's house to help Shippo watch their kids, he caught Kagome's scent on the wind, and he knew instantly that his wish had come true.

Weeks later, after he'd taken her to the hut he refused to live in without her, after he'd bitten into her shoulder and claimed her as his lifelong mate, after he'd married her publicly at the village headman's house, and days after he'd scented that she carried his first pup, he found himself at the well once again.

"You seem happy," he heard his brother say. "It suits you much better than the crushing sadness you carried when I last encountered you here."

InuYasha smirked and looked off into the distance. "Hey, I uh… I wanna thank you for not letting me kill myself back then." He looked back to his brother and said, "I was so mad and scared back then. I mean it, thank you, Sesshomaru."

The demon lord sighed. "You're welcome… Otouto." InuYasha's eyes were wide and his mouth was open. Had Sesshomaru just referred to him as.. his little brother? "Rin and your woman are quite close, despite their age difference. I think it's because they both care for an inuyokai."

Sesshomaru closed the gap between them and said, "I think it's time to end our feud. You've got a pup on the way, and it won't be long before I can pup Rin. It's time we stopped our squabbling and we become brothers, salvage our pack and see what the future holds for our clan."

InuYasha was still and quiet. Finally he blurted out, "Are you feelin' alright, Sesshomaru?"

He heard his elder brother chuckle for the first time ever, a sound he thought the taiyokai was not able to even think of making. "Yes, Otouto. I just think it's time that we become family as our father would have wanted."

"But, I thought he didn't give a shit about what the old man wanted?" InuYasha said as his brother sauntered up beside him.

"While you were making offerings to the gods, I was begging father to save you from your misery. After all, between the two of us, we were the ones that finally killed Naraku, the offspring of our powerful father. It was his fangs that took that bastard down. Surely he could do something from hell to save his hanyou son from such a sad fate." He pushed InuYasha's snow white hair to one side of his neck. "Hold still," he said as he bit down into the skin of his brother's neck.

The change was immediate. Rin knew immediately through her mark what had happened, as well as Kagome, and she even felt a flutter within her womb, knowing that even the pup knew what had transpired.

InuYasha's breath was ragged. "W-w-what… What did you do that for?"

Sesshomaru wiped the blood from his face with the back of his elegant hand. "I made you the beta male in our pack. Don't worry; nothing has changed between you and Kagome. You will be able to feel through this mark not only Kagome, but Rin and myself as well. We are now a pack, and we are once again family. You'll never be alone again, InuYasha. Not while any one of us lives." He squeezed his little brother's shoulder, and before he knew it he was being embraced fully by his beta's arms.

"Thank you so much… Aniki… for everything."

Months later when InuYasha's son was born, the two of them took off into the night, Sesshomaru in his epic dog form and InuYasha riding on his brother's back, feral. They howled into the night, signaling to the world that their mighty bloodline was continuing. It was a happy and raucous celebratory howl, and Touga heard this all the way in hell, and howled back to his sons, even though they couldn't hear him.

The gods smiled at the sound, and all was right with the world.


End file.
